Greetings,
        Finding ways to give the handicapped access to historic buildings and
their contents is indeed problematic. I noted that some  federal resources for
this problem have  been posted to the list, but I thought that listing some of
our personal solutions might help as well. In dealing with the large number of
senior citizen and exceptional persons Inc. tours that we have pass through we
have used a number of strategies in our five historical sites here in Cedar
Falls, Iowa.
        We use a small portable ramp in our Ice House Museum, which  is easily
kept in storage. We use a similar pair of ramps for our 1920 Service Station.
We have a rural  one room school house which we have a permanent ramp leading
to  the  entrance behind the building, the ramp is hidden by the building
itself plus a bit of creative landscaping. Our Victorian house is accessed
through a modern museum annex disguised as an matching carriage house, but
while the handicapped have access to the various levels and services of the
annex, they only have access to the main floor of the actual Victorian House.
To meet this problem we created a photo journal of the areas that they could
not get to, as well as a growing series of video projects that they can view in
the main lobby. We also frequently visit senior citizen care facilities with
traveling lectures with  mini hands on exhibits. However, we are still trying
to find more creative ways to enhance the museum experience for our challenged
guests, so I would not mind hearing more on this subject.
        Also, while I do not have an E-mail address for their facility our
neighbors at the Amana Colonies Historical Museum also have a number of
buildings that they also have adapted to this issue. Hope this helps.
                                        D.R. Grauberger
                                        Cedar Falls Historical Society
                                        Cedar Falls, Iowa